


Crossings

by loofahlover



Series: We Bump and Greet and Spin Round and Round [9]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Fate & Destiny, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-13 09:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4516494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loofahlover/pseuds/loofahlover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a Chinese legend. Two lovers are punished by the heavens, so that they can only meet each other one night every year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

There is an old legend in China. A celestial fairy, the seventh daughter of the Goddess, became bored and escaped to the mortal world to explore. She met a cow herder, and the two fell in love. The Goddess, discontent with the mortal, snatched the fairy back into the celestial world.

The cowherd became very upset upon finding out that his lover was gone. His ox told the cowherd to kill him and put on his hide, in order to cross the sky. With bitter tears, the cowherd did so, and reunited with his fairy. The Goddess became furious and used her hairpin to scratch a wide river into the night sky. Now the two lovers could see each other across the banks, but couldn’t reach each other.

But every year, on the seventh night of the seventh moon, the world’s magpies would take pity on the starcrossed lovers and form a bridge. So that the cowherd and the celestial fairy could be together for a single night.


	2. Cycle 1

Michaelis was just changing Zachary’s diaper, when he heard the doorbell ring. He finished up and put Zachary back in his crib, leaving after a goodnight kiss on the forehead. He made his way downstairs and opened the door to find Seamus, the red-haired drunkard, wobbling on the steps.

“Mikey! Old buddy!”

Michaelis accepted the overenthusiastic hug, then looked over Seamus’ shoulder, to his wife Marsha and their new baby Louie. “Is he already drunk?” 

Marsha merely giggled, making her way inside. “Don’t worry, I was driving. Now, are you sure I can leave Louie with Zachary during dinner?”

“It’s fine. The crib is big enough for the both of them.”

“Speaking of which,” Seamus started sprinting up the stairs, “where is that little bundle of joy?” 

“Be quiet, you Neanderthal! You’ll-” Too late. By the time Michaelis and Marsha got to the baby room, Zachary was wailing up a storm, which made Louie start crying too.

Marsha made her way over to Zachary, all the while rocking Louie in her arms. “Poor dears. You scared them, Seamus.”

“Did you hear that?” Michaelis glared at the man in question, who merely gave a nervous laugh.

“Oh my,” Marsha murmured.

Louie had started grabbing in the direction of Zachary’s cries. When he finally caught hold of Zachary, both babies quickly started to settle down.

“Well, I’ll be,” Seamus muttered, as his wife gently rested Louie next to his little friend.

Michaelis shook his head in disbelief. “There’s just something about those children.” Some strange magic at work.

“You’re telling me. Born on the same month, same day. It’s like they were twins.” Seamus gave his old friend a mock glare. “You didn’t happen to steal a child from me, did you?”

He received a smack from Marsha.

“Ow!”

Michaelis subtly herded them out of the room. ”Marsha, dear, sometime I don’t know how you stand him.”

Marsha, ever the patient one, smiled. “Well, he grows on you. “But I suppose you already knew that.”

Michaelis merely chuckled. He took one last look at the crib before he quietly closed the door.

Meanwhile the two sleeping babies didn’t know that it was the seventh day of the seventh moon. Just that it was warmest and felt better, right next to each other.


	3. Cycle 2

Michaelis had been good friends with Seamus since college. Their dinner parties were an annual thing, ever since Seamus married Marsha and moved closer to his job. And without a doubt, the worst part of the party was saying goodbye.

  
“ZOWO!” Louie latched onto the carpet with his tiny fingers. When Seamus tried to pull him toward the door, the carpet came sliding with them.  
“LUUU!” Meanwhile, Zachary was trying very hard to fly out of Michaelis’ arms.  
“I swear,” Michaelis said. “This is going to be impossible when they get older.”  
“No kidding. ” Seamus gently pried Louie’s fingers out of the carpet. “Come on, Lou. First of all, it’s Zach, not Zowo. And second, you’ll see each other next year, ok?”  
“No! Wadda see Zowo NOW!” Louie started to cry hysterically, having sensed that he was losing.  
“And I wanna drive back home by tonight.” Having finally gotten Louis into his arms, Seamus shouted a quick “Next year, then!” to Michaelis and closed the door. Outside, Seamus and Marsha quickly rushed toward their car, just as people were peeking outside their windows to see who was screaming bloody murder.

  
Zachary, who had been beating his fists against Michaelis' chest, finally stopped. He became limp in his arms, red-faced and panting.  
Michaelis put him back on the ground. “Are you ready to act your age now?”  
Zachary responded by kicking his father in the shins. “I HATE YOU!!!” He kept screaming all the way up the stairs.

  
With a muffled curse, Michaelis hobbled over to the couch. As he unwound with an old documentary and a tumbler of rum, he couldn’t remember why having kids was a good idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be annotating chapters that have a sad or tragic ending, with an asterisk *. For example, with the next chapter :D


	4. Cycle 3*

Michaelis hangs up the phone, still hoping everything he had just heard was a lie.

“Daddy?”

He looks down. “Zachary. You remember my friend Seamus, right?”

Zac nods. “He’s Luffy’s daddy.”

“He is Louie’s daddy. Or was.” Michaelis makes his way to a chair, where he collapses. “Seamus is dead. A sudden accident.”

“Well, what’s dead?”

“It’s where you can’t see someone again.”

“But Luffy’s fine, right? So I can see him again.”

“Probably not.” Michaelis buries his face in his hands.

“Why not?”

Michaelis doesn’t answer.

“But I have to see him! We’re s’pose to be together forever!” Zac presses and prods until finally Michaelis flings his hand aside.

“ENOUGH. Marsha’s taking him and moving back with her parents in Hawaii. That’s on the whole other end of the United States, and neither of us have any intention of seeing each other again. End of discussion.”

Michaelis doesn’t move from his chair. He can hear Zac running to his room in tears. He’ll go to comfort the child in a moment, but for now, he’s still struggling to process the loss of his dearest friend; too close, too raw. His grief has started to dull his senses, everything around him.

Years down the road, he can only blame himself for his lapse of attention on this day.

 

* * *

 

Zoro wipes his tears onto his sleeve, before he pulls out a school backpack and starts stuffing objects inside. His toy reindeer, the one Luffy liked to play with when he came over. A small flashlight. A compass his daddy bought him. A piggy bank he managed to jam in. And finally, some candy. Luffy needed something sweet, he was probably real sad right now. 

Zoro passes by his dad without notice, and runs down the street, his backpack bumping against his shoulder. He glares at the sky, where Luffy’s mom is probably looking down at him. 

“You stupid lady! He’s your son! Why’d you do that?!” 

He almost trips on a crack in the sidewalk. 

“You’re so stupid! And mean! And, and, I hate you!” 

The clouds have darkened overhead. He takes a deep breath, before screaming again, as loud as he could. 

“I HATE YOU!”

 

* * *

  

Lou makes a sniffing noise from the back of the car. “But I don’t wanna go to Hiwee.”

“It’s Hawaii.” Despite being tired to the bones, Marsha keeps smiling as she drives on.

“I wanna see Zoro.”

“I’m sorry Lou. We can’t.”

“No. I wanna see him.” These past few days have been exhausting for him. He doesn’t even have the energy to argue anymore; he just presses himself against the window.

Marsha hates seeing him this lifeless. “How about we give Zoro a call? Would you like that?”

He rubs at his eyes. “Uh huh.”

“Ok then.” Marsha pulls the car over and dials her phone. “Michaelis? It’s Marsha... no it’s fine, Lou and me, we’re...we’ll be just fine. Actually Lou wanted to talk to Zac for a bit... what? What’s wrong... oh my god... oh no, that can’t...I’m so sorry ...yes, yes I understand.” After she hangs up, she covers her mouth with her free hand, trying to stifle the sobs.

“Mommy.” Lou struggles to unbuckle his booster seat, then climbs toward the front of the car, and tugs on Marsha’s dress. Mommy, where’s Zoro?”

Marsha feels a sudden spike of fear amidst the grief. “Lou. Zach passed away.”

Lou lets go. “Like Daddy?”

“Mm Hmm.”

At first, he appears to be in shock. “She said. She said we’d have a day.”

“What?”

Then Lou starts breathing faster.

“She said- day- no. Zoro can’t- Just one day!”

The tears start again, spilling from his reddened eyes.

“No, I just wanted. No. NO. NONONONOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

Screams wrench out from Lou’s throat.

“No baby, no.” Marsha reaches behind her seat to hug Lou. Lou clings back tightly but won’t stop crying hoarsely. She could hear the pain in his voice: it was all too much, too soon. But she couldn’t understand, and couldn’t take it away. Until she couldn’t help but start crying too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names in this story are kinda important. Especially the first letter of each name. I'll explain this later probably.


	5. Cycle 4-5

It was a balmy evening on the beaches of Hawaii. There was a woman taking her long overdue vacation. She stretched her arms upward, past her pink hair, as her moss-haired baby nearby was smacking the sand with his squishy palm. She was thinking about heading back to the hotel when she heard a childish “Hey Zoro!”

A skinny kid skidded across the sand and lifted her baby into the air and twirling him in the air, screaming, “Zoro! Zoro Zoro!”

Zander was usually a fussy child, but he didn’t start crying, didn’t even put up a fight. Instead, his eyes widened, and he started pumping his arms while making squeaky grunting noises in excitement.

But all Perla could think was: DANGER. KIDNAP. She reached for her son. “Excuse me, but could you please QUIT TOUCHING MY CHILD?”

But that just made the weird kid hold Zander all the harder. “Just ten minutes? Please?”  
“No.”  
“Five.”  
“Give me my baby.”  
“Just one?”  
Perla started pulling Zander away by force, when Zander started to cry. “Oh, now look at what you’ve done!”

The boy was crying too, hitching sobs as he clutched his now empty fists as tightly as he could. “Please?” He begged her.

She looked at him. Looked at Zander. Took in the two miserable boys. “Fine, you’ve got ten minutes. But as soon as I get a mosquito bite, we’re going back!”

The boy nodded fervently. As soon as Perla let a struggling Zander onto the sand, the boy crouched to his eye level, holding hands with Zander as gently as possible. They walked a little aways, Zander toddling after the boy. Their voices came in bursts.

“See Zoro? I found this shell today. I’ll give it to you.”  
“Uwoo.”

An hour passed, and once again Perla had two tearful boys before her. The separation was less difficult this time around. Perla struggled with Zander in her arms, as he kept trying to reach behind her for his new friend. The kid was crying, but that didn’t stop his grateful smile.  
“Bye! See you again, Zoro!”  
“It’s not Zoro, it’s Zander!”

 

* * *

 

 

One year later, conference season rolled around, and it was time for Perla to take advantage of her unused vacation days. She threw a flyer into the trash. “Hawaii? Ugh. Been there, done that.”  
Zander fished the flyer out. “Hawa.”  
“No, Zander.”  
“Hawaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”  
“No, we are going to Prague this year. PRAGUE.”  
“Hawa! Hawawawiwiwi!”  
Zander’s eyes followed her hand, as she threw the flyer back into the trash.

It turned out to be the worst vacation ever. Zander didn’t stop crying the entire trip.

**Author's Note:**

> I probably won't write more than 200-500 word drabbles.


End file.
